Short Summary

Police clashed with demonstrators in San Francisco on Friday (12 May) in an effort to clear some 3.500 anti-war demonstrators from a park.

Description

Police clashed with demonstrators in San Francisco on Friday (12 May) in an effort to clear some 3.500 anti-war demonstrators from a park. As the police tried to disperse the demonstrators, a "Support Nixon for President" campaign was launched in a hotel across the street.

The key speakers at the Republican Party dinner were California Governor Ronald Reagan and New York State governor Nelson Rockefeller, both of whom had contested Mr. Nixon for the 1968 Republican Presidential nomination. But they spoke in praise of the President in what was the beginning of the Republican Nixon-for-re-election campaign in California. They said he'd inherited most his problems and that his detractors were misinformed. About one thousand businessman from a city club attended the dinner.

Outside, the demonstration was centred on the hotel. Police said it got out of hand when some protestors tried to barricade a street. Mounted police tried to disperse the demonstration. There were a number of fierce clashes between police and protestors and fifty people were arrested. Police also used batons, tear gas and "stun guns" -- which shoot putty bullets or beanbags -- to clear the area. There were some injuries reported.

SYNOPSIS: About a thousand businessmen from a city club attended a "Nixon-for-re-election" dinner at a San Francisco hotel on Friday. Among the key speakers was California Governor Ronald Reagan. The dinner marked the start of the Republican Party's re-elect Nixon in California.

But outside, police faced about thirty-five hundred anti-war demonstrators who's centred their attention upon the hotel. Although it had started peacefully in a city square, the demonstration got out of hand.

Police say it worsened when demonstrators tried to barricade a street. Police tried to move people.

Police tried to clear the area on foot and on horseback.

The police then moved on the demonstrators in force.

Ultimately using tear gas and "stun guns", which shoot putty bullets or beanbags, police chased the protestors down the streets.

There were a number of fierce clashes between the police and the protestors who resisted the call to disperse. Police also used their batons in the scuffles in the streets. Some injuries were reported.